6500 7600 split
During most of 2006, the 6500 "switch" and 7600 "router" were in fact virtually identical hardware. Both used the same backplane technology, supervisor cards (sup720), linecards and IOS trains. Differences were largely cosmetic e.g. 6509 has horizontal linecards, 7609 vertical.
Many customers treated them as basically identical.
During the late part of 2006, various hints indicated that the two business units responsible for the platforms would be diverging them:
- The 12.2(33)SRA IOS release notes for the 7600 has a "works but not supported on 6500s" clause
- The 6708 10G card was not supported in SRA, only the SXF train (indicated it was not a "7600" card)
- Various presentations indicated the RSP720 (faster CPU SUP720) would not run in a 6500
EXTENSIVE discussions were had about this on the cisco-nsp mailing list; see for example:
- http://puck.nether.net/pipermail/cisco-nsp/2006-December/036739.html
- http://puck.nether.net/pipermail/cisco-nsp/2006-December/036745.html
This was made official early in 2007 with the release of the 12.2(33)SRB IOS release for the 7600:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps368/prod_bulletin0900aecd805df25d.html
At the precise moment the implications are hazy, and all customers are advised to speak to their account managers, but it *seems* that:
| 6500 | 7600 |
|---|---|
| High density | Lower density |
| Enterprise datacentre, core, WAN edge | Service provider core/aggregation |
| Highest performance "if it isn't supported in hardware, it's not supported" |
High-touch (lots of per-packet features). Linecards use CPUs and ASICs PPPoX termination, IPSec, VPLS |
| Think of it like a routing switch | Think of it like a hardware-accelarated 7200 |
| module/feature | 6500 options | 7600 options |
|---|---|---|
| supervisors | SUP720-10G - 2x 10Gb ports and PFC-3C needed for VSS |
RSP720 - increases CPU from 600MHz to 1.2GHz |
| 10GbE | 6704, 6708, 6716 1:1, 2:1 and 4:1 contended |
ES20 - CPU-assisted, provider-core-facing 10GbE. Supports VPLS, MAC accounting etc. 6708 is supported as of SRC |
| gigabit - fabric | 6748 SFP, TX | also supported on 7600 |
| load balancing | ACE | Supported on 7600 from 12.2(33)SRC or later |
| CSM | NOT SUPPORTED |
Software differences
12.2 SXF
- support both platforms (only sup720, no rsp720)
- limited modularity, no ipv6 or mpls
- no ISSU
- safe harbor release
12.2(33) common feature
- config change archive, rollback, context diff
- mux-uni support - vlans and .1q sub-ints on same lan card port
- SSO/NSF support for MPLS, HSRP
12.2(33) SXH and upwards
- 6500 only
- supports sup-720 10g
- supports VSS - effectively stacking for 6500s
- modular release supports all features
- monolithic release also available
12.2(33) SR
- SRA briefly ran on both
- SRB and upwards are 7600 only
- rsp720
- intercept
- 6vPE (multi-vrf ipv6)
- can do ISSU between compatible versions as of SRB1
